{"id":728,"date":"2007-12-09T10:45:48","date_gmt":"2007-12-09T15:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/2007\/12\/09\/help-me\/"},"modified":"2007-12-09T10:45:48","modified_gmt":"2007-12-09T15:45:48","slug":"help-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/2007\/12\/09\/help-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Treasures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/69.89.31.52\/~drslewis\/camille\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/angel.jpg\" title=\"angel.jpg\"><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/69.89.31.52\/~drslewis\/camille\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/angel1.jpg\" title=\"angel1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/69.89.31.52\/~drslewis\/camille\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/12\/angel1.jpg\" alt=\"angel1.jpg\" \/><\/a>Some time ago, a friend made a decision I didn&#8217;t understand. I admit that. As I was praying for her back then, I said outloud, &#8220;<em><strong>I<\/strong><\/em> think she did the wrong thing. But I want to be her friend. Lord, help me be a friend.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the months to follow, many people told me how sinful her decision was and how she was officially punished for it. God reminded me to pray, &#8220;Lord, help me be a friend.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In time, I better understand her decision. And now I realize that the judgment that was so quickly my first resort is easy within my limited perspective. But Grace is the thing that reminds me that I&#8217;m bent toward judgment because of my own puny eyesight. It&#8217;s Grace that pushes me to assume Christ is there even when I can&#8217;t see Him.<\/p>\n<p>Six years ago we lost our Elise. I <em>know<\/em> that God allowed that to happen. I knew it then as much as I do now. And yet days after she was born, my body was preparing to nurture a life that wasn&#8217;t there. My body literally\u00a0<em>ached<\/em> for her. And my heart hurt. Those are contradictions: to want your baby so badly, but to know that God has her and that He&#8217;s good. How do I endure those tensions? The same way as with a friend&#8217;s decision\u00a0I don&#8217;t understand &#8212; with His Grace.<\/p>\n<p>Holidays are a sentimental time. I pull out ornaments from dear friends that remind me of their sweet, tender care over the years. Grant rolls out the Christmas play lists, and I remember the times we sat in the choir loft in our robes listening to that orchestral offertory as he whispered, &#8220;This Christmas will be the best one ever!&#8221; &#8212; anticipating that gift in 1988 that would anticipate our wedding in 1990. Those are treasured memories. God wanted us there. And He wants us here now. That is a sort of contradiction. But in His Grace, we can all still be friends, knowing that in Him we&#8217;re all His.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">[MEDIA=9]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some time ago, a friend made a decision I didn&#8217;t understand. I admit that. As<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,13,17,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-grace","category-listen","category-foto","category-remember","category-speak"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Treasures - A Time To Laugh<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.drslewis.org\/camille\/2007\/12\/09\/help-me\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Camille Lewis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/09\\\/help-me\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/09\\\/help-me\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Camille Lewis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e93a8c9ec8fb8b926471114158437f82\"},\"headline\":\"Treasures\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-12-09T15:45:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/09\\\/help-me\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":353,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e93a8c9ec8fb8b926471114158437f82\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/09\\\/help-me\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/69.89.31.52\\\/~drslewis\\\/camille\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/angel1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Believe\",\"Grace\",\"Listen\",\"Look\",\"Remember\",\"Speak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/09\\\/help-me\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/09\\\/help-me\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.drslewis.org\\\/camille\\\/2007\\\/12\\\/09\\\/help-me\\\/\",\"name\":\"Treasures - 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